First create a template Christmas tree shape (it should be symmetrical) on a piece of cardboard or cardstock. Cut it out and then trace the template onto a piece of recycled cardboard. You’ll need two Christmas tree cutouts for…

What if you could read a book at night not with the help of a lamp or flashlight, but with a glowing plant? That’s the vision Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) weaves with new research from their engineers. They embedded nanoparticles into watercress leaves, inducing the greenery to emit dim light for almost four hours.

Giving someone a great gift they’ll really treasure doesn’t mean dropping a ton of cash. Sometimes the best gift you can give a friend or loved one is something much less tangible: your time. This year skip the store-bought gifts and give your loved ones a

San Jose has been struggling with homelessness, and now think they have an answer: tiny homes. The City Council recently voted nine to two approving a pilot program to construct a 40-unit tiny house village. Architecture firm Gensler unveiled two conceptual designs created pro-bono for the city earlier this month, with houses designed to be both aesthetically attractive and efficient.

Scientists have found the first solid evidence that prehistoric ticks consumed dinosaur blood. The discovery of a 99-million year old piece of amber in Myanmar offers a rare glimpse into the lives, big or small, of Creataceous animals. Trapped within the fossilized sap, the tick is seen grasping onto a feather presumed to be from a feathered dinosaur. Though Mezozoic-era blood-sucking insects encased in amber have become part of the public’s imagination thanks to the Jurassic Park films, the fossil…

99 percent less water 4,000 lettuce heads every 10 days. Los Angeles-based vertical farming company Local Roots achieves all that in their shipping container farms – but today they announced they’ve also reached cost parity with traditional farming. They plan to deploy over 100 of their TerraFarms in 2018. Inhabitat checked out their mobile TerraFarm in Manhattan and met co-founders Eric Ellestad and Matt Veil to hear more.

SunPower, a San Jose-based manufacturer of solar panels, has achieved a 15% efficiency increase in its panels in part by incorporating a novel design: shingling solar cells. For only $9 in additional costs from adding solar cells, SunPower’s P Series solar panels can be structured like shingles, maximizing direct sunlight exposure and raising efficiency. Because of this increase in efficiency through a relatively simple design tweak, SunPower’s stock jumped 12% as investors recognized the potential…